Took about ten years to finally flower, found that big horn shaped spathe on the ground this morning. 

Handsome, robust, and fast growing palm. The whitish trunk stands out amount all the brown and green. 

Abundant Central and South American palm. 

Tim

Tall, straight as an arrow, with cool leaflets.

Tim

Tim, that is one cool looking, unusual palm. Never seen that one before, thanks for posting! 

I would put these everywhere if I had more land. I love the look and how fast they grow and the seed sprout really fast 

That is indeed a spectacular looking palm! 

Thank you for posting!

Lars

 

Ha John, you just can’t help yourself germinating seed. Welcome to the club!

Tim 

Perfect growing, Tim! Awesome specimens!

2 out of 3 survived volcanic eruption disruption in my garden, and continue to improve. Blue sky this morning demanded photos. 

We 

Maturing nicely. Putting out lots of ‘horns’ nowadays.

Tim

For those familiar with both, what is your opinion of Socratea species and which do you prefer, Socratea or Iriartea?

Jerry, even though the two are closely related, they are such different palms. Both are special plants to me, especially after seeing them in habit.. Socratea is more diminutive in every respect, with exaggerated stilt roots. Iriartea is robust, beefy, tall, and a much smaller cone of stilt roots. Even the shape and color of the leaves are different. So, to answer your question, I don’t have a preference. 

Tim 

Never seen this one before either the leaflets are awesome. Thanks for sharing

Couldn’t help myself, the horn shaped spathe finally fell off…….a fountain of flowers. It’s good to look up once in awhile.

Tim

Hard to believe that this little thing could turn into that in 10 years or so if all goes well!

These are fast growing for me. 

These photos reinforce my desire to plant a few more Iriartea.

Socratea is also beautiful, but a little more difficult to get to mature size - just my very limited experience. The "curly" stilt roots don't hold the palm in a super stable manner when young. Mine toppled quickly and maybe I ought to have staked it? Perhaps I should try again.

Aloha Kim! A spectacular palm for sure with an interesting habit. 

My first Socratea, which came from Bo’s nursery, had one main stilt root in a one gallon pot supporting it. When it was young, stability wasn’t a problem, but new root tips would always dry out and terminate before they could reach the ground. I wrapped the root cone with shade cloth which seemed to help, but only a temporary solution. Eventually it exploded, growth wise,  and finally seemed to establish itself. As it grew taller I noticed it would really hula in strong wind events, so I ended up staking it with guy wires. A pain in the okole to put it nicely. Then one of those hurricane type storms took it out. I was actually kind of glad. Whew…….long winded and I’m not done yet.

A seed from the mother plant came up on it’s own and it’s root cone was well developed even as a seedling. So, what I’m trying to say is plant one out as a seedling, the younger the better might have a better chance long term. I’ll post a pic one of these days. 

When are you back on island? 

Tim

 

On 12/29/2021 at 9:55 AM, realarch said:

When are you back on island? 

Tim

Sent you a PM

Was checking on the progress of some Iriartea seed and noticed they were beginning to germinate. The embryonic leaf, cotyledon, is cute as a ‘button.’ The one seed in the group already has a ‘radicle’, the embryonic root. Just some FYI.

This palm is a beast.

Tim

On 12/27/2021 at 11:15 AM, Brad52 said:

Hard to believe that this little thing could turn into that in 10 years or so if all goes well!

All did not go well, mine didn’t get much bigger before death.

Hey Brad, you might give it another go. Mine burned literally for years before acclimating to its full sun location. I should have took the hint that in habit it lives its young life on the forest floor in considerable shade. Well, now it’s a neck breaker. I need to post an updated photo, it will give me something to do.

Tim

3 hours ago, realarch said:

Was checking on the progress of some Iriartea seed and noticed they were beginning to germinate. The embryonic leaf, cotyledon, is cute as a ‘button.’ The one seed in the group already has a ‘radicle’, the embryonic root. Just some FYI.

This palm is a beast.

Tim

Clearly an AI image...a slice of kiwifruit on top of a coconut!

Here’s the duo of both varieties, slow in my climate, water lovers and Iam surprised they have taken temperatures as low as 2 degrees celcius. Both varieties planted in the ground and rostrata seems to be wining the race in growing the best.

53 minutes ago, Jonathan said:

Clearly an AI image...a slice of kiwifruit on top of a coconut!

50/50 on that one @Jonathan you could grow kiwi fruit, but as for coconuts. I think you should try at least just to show us your refrigerator grow skills!